Churchill

It is 50 years to the day that Sir Winston Churchill died.

 I am very proud to have a picture of him looking out over my office in Rockhampton. Even prouder that the picture includes a signature in his own hand writing. I know that the picture sometimes gets a few strange looks from some politicians who visit the office - even stranger looks when they see the other Churchill memorabilia around the office. If they saw my collection of Churchill stamps I think they would run for the hills! I don't really care - I simply find Churchill an inspiration.

Why am I so inspired by this person? He was defiantly a flawed character (but are all of us). God knows he made lots of mistakes some of them having disastrous consequences for the country I love - Australia. He also made mistakes that had bad consequences for my beloved England. 

But here was a person who NEVER gave up what ever the odds were against him. Here was a person who was willing to take the tough decision. Here was a person who did not care about political party or doing what was politically correct. Here was a person who inspired the world in its darkest hour. Here was a man who had a deep love of his country and family. Here is a person who continues to inspire me 50 years after his death. 

I often look up at the picture when I have difficult decisions to make and say - what would you have done Winnie? I don't always take his advice which comes from the MANY books I have about his life - but I always try and live by his golden rule - Never, never, never give up.

RIP Sir Winston.

Have a great Australia Day weekend.

All the best

Scott

Is it just me or has 2014 been the biggest, busiest, and most remarkable year we’ve had yet? I don’t even know where to begin with a yearly wrap-up!

Surely the 1 July merger with CQ TAFE has been the most profound event of the year. This was a day that not only transformed CQUniversity forever, but the way post-schooling education and training is conducted in Central Queensland. It was also the day we welcomed almost 19,000 TAFE students and 400 incredibly dedicated VET colleagues into the organisation, at the same time becoming the largest regionally-based university in Australia. Let that sink in – we are now the biggest regional uni.

And if the merger itself wasn’t a big enough task, around 20 new VET programs were added to our range of offerings in the post-merger period. The effort that went into this was outstanding. We also saw Study Centres open in Townsville, Charters Towers, Perth and Karratha this year, enabling more students to access an innovative model of supportive Distance Education.

Our stock just continued to rise across all areas of the university, as did our reputation in the sector. We seem to be one of the universities that everyone is watching at the moment, and its easy to understand why. Our numbers are climbing, our course options are expanding, our student satisfaction ratings are heading north, and our graduation ceremonies seem to be getting bigger and bigger. And lets not overlook the work Facilities Management team have been doing on major new buildings & projects all over our footprint.

Our teaching staff have continued to raise the bar of excellence this year. Prof Stephen Colbran, who won this year’s Australian Award for Teaching Excellence in Law, is a great example of the talent we have, but I could just as easily list many others. Likewise in research we’ve seen some great results being produced, and we exceeded our target for total research grants this year. Prof John Rolfe’s involvement in the $31M Tropical Water Quality Hub and Dr Corneel Vandelanotte’s NHMRC funding have been exciting to see, and the outputs of our Early Career Researchers Group this year makes our research future look very exciting indeed. Our international students continue to be a great source of pride, and 2014 was the year we began to see the green shoots of recovery following the downturn in the international market.

Our engagement with Indigenous communities and groups under the leadership of Prof Bronwyn Fredericks has been phenomenal. Today we have more than 1,100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at CQUniversity, and this year we saw more Indigenous students cross the graduation stage than any other year - something we should all be proud of. Speaking of graduates, our alumni continue to take the world by storm, and its hard to go past the story of former student Carolyn Hardy who won this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award. And how fantastic was it to see our Engineering students win the national finals of The Big Idea competition with their concept of reusing industrial pallets for emergency housing following natural disasters.

There are so many things that have made 2014 great (and I know I’ve overlooked many), but my favourite moment of the year? Probably watching Dr Louise Byrne steal the show on ABC’s Q&A program as a panellist.

I’d like to thank everybody for their contribution and support this year - I am very proud of what has been achieved. I wish you all a safe and happy Christmas, and a wonderful New Year.

See you all in 2015!

Scott  

Sydney Events

The events that occurred yesterday and overnight in Sydney’s CBD were simply inconceivable. Like most people this morning I stood in front of the TV utterly dumbfounded that such sadness could ever be visited upon our country.  

The time for questioning “why” will come, but for today our immediate thoughts should be with the victims and their families.  

While it is nearly impossible to make sense out of this tragedy, can I just say how proud I am of the CQUniversity community of staff and students today. I have been watching our University rally around our Sydney-based staff and students with incredible support and comfort. But in particular I am proud of the way the University has rallied around our Muslim staff and students during this time. I cannot imagine what CQUniversity would be like without the rich and vibrant contribution made by this extraordinary group of individuals, and if ever there was a time to let them know this, it is now.  

There is always the risk that events like these could bring out the worst in our communities, opening the doors to hatred and intolerance. But I am overwhelmed by the way CQUniversity – indeed by most of Australia – has rejected this reaction, reaching instead to compassion and understanding. The most beautiful thing I saw this morning was the number of my colleagues tweeting the #Illridewithyou hashtag on Twitter – a simple message supporting Australian Muslims feeling apprehensive about riding on public transport today for fear of reprisal. This reminded me that despite the horrors of overnight, we remain the lucky country.   

I wish all readers of this blog a safe and happy Christmas break with your loved ones.

Scott

CQUni champions of science

I was delighted back in early September when our fantastic agriculture Professor Dave Swain was awarded with a Queensland Government Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Science Champion Award for his ground breaking work in precision livestock management and his collaboration with industry.

Now in the last week two more CQUni researchers were recognised with the same award and once again it was for agriculture related research. Professor Phil Brown and Dr Talitha Best who are both located at the Bundaberg campus are conducting research that looks into the relationship between horticultural production systems and consumer psychology. They are working directly with local agribusiness stakeholders to take a fresh look at the horticultural value chain – from soil to supermarket – to improve yields and understand barriers industry innovation, and grower and consumer motivations. Once again a great example of CQUniversity and our researchers working directly with communities and industry to develop research that is relevant to local issues and needs.

CQUniversity is a leader in agricultural research – and now a leader in these awards with three science champions out of the nine awarded going to CQUni (the most for a Queensland university). Agricultural research it is so important to the central Queensland region and I am extremely proud to be working with true innovators in this area. Congratulations Dave, Phil and Talitha! This recognition is well deserved.

Professor Dave Swain accepts his award from QLD MP Ian Walker

Professor Phil Brown and Dr Talitha Best accept their awards from Minister Walker this week

A week in the life of a regional university VC

CQUniversity is proud of its history as a regional university. Our foundations are firmly planted in central Queensland but in the last two decades CQUni has identified opportunities to serve students and communities in other regions. Initially this drive saw the University establish campuses in other major CQ centres, followed by the establishment of campuses in the three major cities on Australia’s east coast to attract a growing international student cohort.

Now following the establishment of a campus and research institute in Adelaide and distance education study centres and hubs in Cairns, Cannonvale, Charters Towers and Townsville, CQUniversity has the biggest geographical footprint of any Australian university. Nobody said a model like this would be easy but no one disputed the benefits and opportunities either.

Currently we have 20 locations across the nation, with a view to open two more in Western Australia by the end of the year. As well as the obvious benefit of delivering services and facilities to help our many distance education students, a physical presence in so many places means we are working directly with communities and giving people the chance to get in touch with tertiary education and training.

It’s great being able to serve so many communities and students and it’s especially great to hear from distance students who say their lives have been made so much easier by having access to high-speed, free internet, when they need it, so that they can attend online lectures and research their assessments.

As the VC of such a far reaching university it does however mean that I’m never in the one place too long. While I’m based in Rockhampton I don’t think I have spent an entire week here all year (albeit it has been a busier year than usual as a result of our merger with CQ TAFE). Most weeks I’m out on the road working from all our locations and getting to know our people whether it be at a student forum, a graduation, alumni event, program launch or building opening.

Opening the Townsville Study Centre with Mayor Cr Jenny Hill

Last week was a classic example of this. I started off in Rockhampton before traveling to Charters Towers (via Townsville) to open our Charters Towers Study Hub at the Dalrymple Trades Training Centre on Thursday, drove back to Townsville for the opening of our Distance Education Study Centre there on Friday, boarded a flight back to Rockhampton to attend the opening of the CQU Creates art exhibition that night, then travelled to Mackay on Saturday for the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music’s 25^th Anniversary gala concert before coming back to Rocky on Sunday for the launch of a Community Cabinet meeting at our Yeppoon study centre on Monday.  

Admiring Professor Owen Nevin's photographic entry at CQU Creates

It might sound exhausting but I really think I have one of the best jobs out there. Everyday I’m meeting new people and sharing the CQUni story with anyone who’ll listen. 

Welcoming MPs to the Yeppoon study centre before Community Cabinet

Go Taipans

This week it was a great honour to represent CQUniversity as we announced our new naming rights sponsorship agreement with the Cains Taipans.

For the past few years we have partnered with the Taipans by way of the CQUniversity Taipans Academy. This is a great initiative that helps to develop the sporting and professional careers of talented young basketball players. Our partnership with the Taipans Academy has allowed some members to play professionally with the Taipans and has also attracted some to explore study opportunities at CQUniversity.

One such player is Shaun Bruce. Shaun progressed through the Academy and is now playing professionally. On top of this, he is also studying a Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science with CQUni and is due to complete his program at the end of the year. As part of the naming rights sponsorship deal we also look forward to continuing our involvement with the Academy over the next season, with a view to foster more interest in higher education among members of the Taipans Academy, so they too can achieve what Shaun has been able to.

While a university might not necessarily seem like an obvious choice to sponsor a sporting team I’m thrilled that CQUniversity was given this opportunity. In fact CQUniversity has a proud history of showing support for sport and sporting teams in central Queensland and further afield and now it’s wonderful to get behind a North Queensland team and support the NBL. What’s more following our announcement to staff and students earlier in the week I received a lot of positive feedback about the partnership. One response in particular, from a student studying in Bundaberg, really jumped out at me - originally from Cairns she was delighted to hear that her university was now sponsoring her basketball team.

Going forward I believe that this sponsorship deal will allow CQUniversity to do a lot more within the local community, not just in Cairns but in other regions as well. It’s also great to have the Taipans and their supporters behind us as we plan further expansion in Far North Queensland as the demand for our programs grows.

I’ve got a great feeling that this is going to be a really good season for the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans and can’t wait for the first game of the season to get underway in October. Go Taipans! 

A more comprehensive future just days away

The time has finally come for all of us at CQUniversity to usher in a new era in education and training. Today is the last day of the last week before the University undergoes the most significant change in its history. On Tuesday the long awaited merger with CQ TAFE will become official and a more comprehensive university will be born, paving the way for a smarter more innovative approach to education and training in the region.

Tuesday, 1 July will be a day of celebration and every CQUni campus across Australia will mark this date and join in. While most of the benefit will be felt directly within the CQ footprint itself, there will be a flow on effect beyond the region with students able to explore many new opportunities and study pathways, regardless of their location.

Going forward students won’t just come to CQUniversity to complete a degree, students will come to us to complete enabling programs that will provide them with the skills and confidence to go on to further study, they will come to us to complete trade certificates, diplomas and short courses, and they will come to study degrees fresh from leaving school or to enrol in postgraduate study to take their career further. They will also come to us to up-skill, gaining specialised qualifications in  their area of expertise or to set the foundations to embark on a career change.

What’s more at any point in time during their study journey they will be able to seamlessly transition between different levels of study – for example engineering students might elect to complete a welding qualification on top of their degree or a sports science student might take up a fitness qualification in their first year of study allowing them to work in the industry while they are studying. Likewise, graduates might come back to study VET programs to further expand on their skills and knowledge in a particular area.

It is because of this new approach to education and training that our region can look forward to having much needed childcare professionals, engineers, scientists, midwives, enrolled nurses, tradespeople, service providers, community workers and allied health professions. Delivering skills and knowledge to these professionals will boost our local economy and build not just our region but others like ours, both here in Australia and overseas.

The merger between CQ TAFE and CQUniversity is a first for Queensland and each and every one of us that call central Queensland home, or who are a part of the CQUniversity and CQ TAFE community should feel very proud to be involved in this revolutionary approach.

On top of this I think the fact a regional university is taking a lead with this approach in Queensland is something very exciting!

Finally, between now and Tuesday there is still a lot of work being done behind the scenes to ensure a smooth transition, things like merging data between systems and getting all new systems up and running, welcoming 400 plus staff from TAFE, unifying programs and courses, building new state-of-the-art infrastructure, and getting the message out about how we are making this change for the better. I’d therefore like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication shown by so many staff across both organisations, during the merger transition process. Getting to this milestone would have simply not been possible without so many great people behind the cause.

Be sure to check my blog again next week for more updates on the merger!